CHAPTER IV 
THE FEAR THAT WAS IN THE WAY 
BROWNIE was one of the first family of Fluff-Button 
and Cuni. It has already been related how she 
fought the rats in the Garry's Hill burrow, and 
enough has been said to show that she was a 
very devoted mother, as indeed most rabbits are. 
But she had been so terrified by that experience 
that she resolved to make her next nest right away 
from the warren ; so she dug a hole into the hillside 
at about a hundred yards' distance. 
In the darkness her four babies were only known 
to her as a squeaking, naked mass, helpless and 
wholly beloved. She was ignorant of their very 
number, they had no individuality, nevertheless she 
lavished all her care upon them, and lay with them 
all day, feeding and licking them. Only at night- 
fall she crept out to feed herself, with both ears on 
the alert. But very few enemies crossed Garry's 
Hill at night. Now and then an owl hooted in 
Knockdane ; the nightjars purred among the pine 
trees at the bottom of the hill ; and from the warren 
came the distant bustle of the rabbit community 
the munching of many teeth, the splashing of 
many feet in the dew, and the stamping of scores 
of signals. 
